St. Francis Youth Group: Our Lady of Sorrows

Hello! Long time no blog!

Today(yesterday for most of you)...is one of my personal favorite Feast Days...Our Lady of Sorrows. I meant to post a little sooner in the day, but I was hanging out at the Archdiocesan Youth Conference in Minneapolis, MN for most of the day! What a blessed time with Archbishop Nienstedt, 1500 teens, and many priests and seminarians. It was beautiful :)

Okay, back to the Feast Day. Today, Saturday, September 15th, we honor Mary, our Mother, under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows.

This title specifically deals with the sorrow which she must have felt in seeing her son, the Son of God who she knew to be innocent and blameless, be tortured, mocked, and finally crucified and buried. What anguish she must have felt! She was faithful to God, and yet this was happening to her Son...God is not without a plan, however! If we read closely, this day was actually foretold roughly 30 years previously when Jesus was presented at the temple...let's check out the Word of God on this:

"22 And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And inspired by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,29 "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; 30 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation 31 which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel." 33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; 34 and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed." " - Luke 2:22-35

So we see that this sorrow by Mary was predicted almost right after Jesus' birth! 1) That Jesus was proclaimed by Simeon as the Salvation of God's people, and 2) That a sword would pierce Mary's soul. Wow.

Still, knowing the pain was coming, I'm sure did not lessen it. And although it is almost heartbreaking to imagine what Mary went through, it also gives me great hope. I know that any rough times I am going through, like a bad day, or someone was mean to me, or upset with me...the sorrow that I feel is NOTHING compared to what Mary suffered. AND! She was given to us as our Mother by Jesus Himself, so we are able to come to HER with our suffering! And she will give that to Christ Jesus! What a blessing! No matter our suffering, Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, is always there to assist us with her comfort and prayers. It is so beautiful!

And speaking of beautiful...here are some images commonly used with this Title of Mary, as well as some of the Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows in Chicago IL! I would recommend checking it out if you're in the area. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! So...pictures: :)